hello, i'm caitriona perry. you're very welcome. president biden is rejecting allegations from the international criminal court's chief prosecutor, who is seeking arrest warrants for israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and defence minister yoav gallant. the prosecutor, karim khan, is accusing the two of conducting war crimes and crimes against humanity in gaza. mr khan has also applied for arrest warrants for three leaders of hamas, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the october 7th attacks in israel. speaking at a jewish heritage month celebration at the white house, mr biden said there is no equivalence between israel and hamas. let me be clear, contrary to allegations against israel made by the international court ofjustice, what's happening is not genocide. we reject that.

applause and we'll always stand with israel and the threats against its security. mr khan alleges there is evidence to suggest �*starvation�* has been used by the prime minister and his defence minister as a �*method of war�* against civilians. he also alleges israeli leaders killed wilfully, intentionally directing attacks against civilians. mr netanyahu has described the allegations as �*absurd'. in respect of hamas, the prosecutor alleges there is clear evidence they ordered mass murder, rape and the inhumane treatment of hostages. a panel of iccjudges must now decide whether they believe the evidence is sufficient to issue warrants, something which could take weeks or months. the bbc�*s anna holligan has more from the hague. this is a catalogue of devastating allegations presented by the icc prosecutor, mr khan. starvation as a weapon of warfare,

deliberate attacks, military attacks on the civilian population. he says benjamin netanyahu and yoav gallant are responsible as co— perpetrators. on the other side, the hamas leaders are responsible for the taking's, rape and other forms of sexual violence. based on evidence, including interviews with survivors, eyewitnesses, video, audio and photographic imagery, satellite images and various other information, karim khan said israel had intentionally and systematically deprive the civilian population in all parts of gaza of object indispensable to human survival. while he alleges that her maths leaders were responsible for the planning and instigation of the october seven attack. —— hamas mr khan says he has enough evidence to secure convictions but it is not up to him to decide. the

information, his team of investigators have gathered in the field, will now be presented to the pre—trial judges here at the icc. they were filtered through all that information, the material, the testimony from survivors and eyewitnesses, in order to decide whether the evidentiary bar has been met in order to issue these arrest warrants requested by the prosecuted, karim khan. that process could take weeks. earlier, i spoke about this with madeline morris, former special prosecutor at the icc for siera leone ——sierra and serbia and current professor emerita of law at duke university. icc prosecutors have been investigating allegations of war crimes for many months now. were you surprised in any way in the timing they decided to seek arrest warrants against the prime minister, defence

minister of israel and the three hamas leaders? fire three hamas leaders? are particularly _ three hamas leaders? fife particularly surprised. there were underlying legal issues going to the authority of the court to be issuing arrest warrants or any other legally operational moves with regard to both hamas and israel. that has been the case since the investigation was opened so all of those questions were pre— presumed to be answerable in the affirmative for the purposes of the court's authority from the time the investigation was open. investigation in other words presupposes they could be at some point an arrest warrant issued. �* ., , ., ., ,, issued. both israel and the us have reacted _ issued. both israel and the us have reacted very _ issued. both israel and the us have reacted very strongly - issued. both israel and the us have reacted very strongly to l have reacted very strongly to this move, of course neither of them recognise the international criminal court. se secretary of state antony blinken back it correct when he says the icc has no

jurisdiction of these matters? yes, the secretary of state is quite correct, particularly with regard to the question of immunity, with regard to head of state immunity, diplomatic immunity, the court issued a very questionable opinion on 2019 suggesting that the international court did not recognise internationally recognised immunities under international law. yet, the ecc�*s jurisdiction itself is international law. yet, the ecc�*sjurisdiction itself is in theory, this is the underlying claim, is that it is transferred, jurisdiction is transferred, jurisdiction is transferred from the states that are parties to the treaty to the international criminal caught so that it is delegated to the court. there is also the underlying issue about recognition of palestine as a state, how that relates to the cords jurisdiction. cord's jurisdiction. notwithstanding question of jurisdiction and recognition and so on, what in a practical

way does this mean for the five individuals concerned? we way does this mean for the five individuals concerned?- individuals concerned? we will have to see. _ individuals concerned? we will have to see. in _ individuals concerned? we will have to see. in terms - individuals concerned? we will have to see. in terms of- individuals concerned? we will| have to see. in terms of simple custody, there has been no success in gaining custody of those individuals by israel, which has been seeking to gain custody of those individuals since october seven, obviously. so the suggestion that the icc would be more effective in gaining custody over hamas, the hamas individuals, it seems very slim. so there are problems with custody with regard to individuals named, who were members of hamas, and as to israelis, similarly the issue will be held at the court gain custody? even with an outstanding arrest warrant that would require that either israel or hamas turn over people. that is not going to happen, clearly. or that they travel to a third state and

thatis travel to a third state and that is unlikely to happen. so what does this mean for the us then. joe biden obviously a staunch defender of prime minister netanyahu of israel's self—defence to position. if they were to be an arrest warrant issued for the prime minister and the minister of defence, what would that mean forjoe biden, for the us administration's relationship and interaction with the prime minister and with israel? i cannot imagine that would have any effect. the us is not a party to the icc statute and has no obligations whatsoever to do anything under the statute or co—operate with the court in any way. leaving aside all the other questions that would arise if the us were state party, itjust is not, has no obligations to the court. now to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in gaza. the new york times reports officials on monday say

one of the first aid shipments to arrive inside of the territory through a us—built pier was looted over the weekend. a un world food programme spokesperson says crowds intercepted a convoy of 16 trucks that were loaded with goods and ran off. the organisation suspended deliveries from the pier on sunday and monday. iran is observing five days of mourning after its president, ebrahim raisi, was killed in a helicopter crash on sunday. he had been travelling with the foreign minister through thick fog and rain, in a remote area near the border with azerbaijan. iran's supreme leader, ali khamenei, says the vice president will take over, until elections on june 28th. our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, reports. in the fog at first light on this forbidding terrain, the crash site was finally reached and the bodies pulled from this wreckage, including president raisi and his foreign minister, abdollahian.

a journalist from iran's state tv reporting from this scene, the blue—and—white tailfin behind him. no—one survived when this helicopter came down in the mountains of north—west iran, killing eight people on board. they had flown in a convoy of three choppers, close to the border with azerbaijan. president raisi inaugurating a new dam. the azeri president, ilham aliyev, says he bid him a friendly farewell. in tehran today, a sad goodbye — the grief of his faithful flock. and on social media, scenes of sorrow, but also, celebration. the bbc�*s persian service, which can't report inside iran, has been monitoring the messages. they see him, they call him, he is the president of the poor people. but the reality is, if you look at the mass majority

of iranians, we know what we are hearing from inside iran and those people who dare to come on social media and express their opinions, we see there are huge numbers of people are expressing their excitement...his death. chanting on president raisi's watch, iran cracked down on unprecedented protests — a new generation lashing out against strict islamic rules, restricting their freedoms. his sudden demise won't change iran's direction. it's a big mistake that western governments — they rely very much on people hostile towards iran for their analysis and for their information, and that's what makes them pursue mistaken policies that only backfire. in the islamic republic, the 85—year—old supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei, is the ultimate authority.

raisi was seen as his possible successor. the hardliners control all the levers of power. as they start the process to select a new president, continuity is their top priority. lyse doucet, bbc news. and although some countries including iraq, syria, and lebanon havejoined iran in mourning, the us state department had a different response. abraham raisi was a brutal participant for nearly four decades. he was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including paying a role in the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political prisoners. some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his years as president. especially abuse against the women and girls of iran.

that said, we regret any loss of life, don't want to see anyone die in a helicopter crash. but that does not change the reality of his record, both as a judge and the president of iran. the fact he has blood on his hands. so, ithink so, i think most importantly, ourfundamental approach so, i think most importantly, our fundamental approach to a run has not changed and will not change. we will continue to support the people of iran, to support the people of iran, to support the people of iran, to support the human rights, aspirations to an open free society and democratic participation. we walk continue to... advancement of nuclear programmes in ways that have no credible civilian purpose. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at another story making headlines. new research has shown that some people paralysed from the neck down have some movement restored by electrical pulses around the damaged area coupled with physiotherapy. a clinical study of the technique on 60 patients who had their injuries several

years ago found that 43 showed some improvement in their hand movements. pallab ghosh has more. this is how it works — the brain sends instructions to move arms and legs through nerves in the spinal column. if there's a break, those signals are weakened. but the signals are boosted by electrical pulses from electrodes around the damaged area when coupled with physiotherapy. so, this is a device that the patients use, it sends pulses of high—frequency electricity to these electrodes, which are attached to the patient�*s spine. and these are attached here and here, they are return electrodes to complete the circuit. the device is the latest development of work by a swiss team, based in lausanne. you're live with bbc news. donald trump's lawyers have started their defence of the former president in his criminal �*hush money�* trial in a manhattan courtroom, after the prosecution rested. it followed another day

of cross—examination of the prosecution's star witness — mr trump's former attorney and fixer, michael cohen. during his testimony, cohen admitted to stealing $30,000 from the trump organization. it's the latest effort by the defence to discredit cohen. mr trump's legal team, once again, asked thejudge to dismiss the case. i think the case is going very well. we have asked for termination of the case. this case should be terminated, it should not go anywhere. it should be terminated right now. and new york state has to build up its system again. new york state can't let this happen. can't let this happen. there were no crimes. we did nothing wrong. and i want to get back to campaigning. i am representing millions and millions, — hundreds of millions of people. defence lawyers also called former legal adviser for mr cohen, robert costello,

as a witness, prompting some moments of tension. the bbc�*s nada tawfik has more on today's developments. prosecutors rest ok. owen admits from from donald trump. a wildcard witness gets a dramatic dressing down by thejudge. ——rest their case trumps's lawyers got michael cohen to admit that he stole from his former boss. cohen billed the trump organization $50,000 to cover a $20,000 payment to an it company, and he pocketed the rest. he said because he was angry about his bonus being cut. prosecutor spent the end of their case rehabilitating their star witness, reminding the court he was not the one on trial and refocusing jurors' mind on parts of his testimony that mattered. cohen reiterated that donald trump gave him a final sign off to pay the adult film star stormy daniels. he said speaking out turned his entire life upside down. and then things got heated. the defence called attorney robert costello

who offered to represent cohen when federal authorities were investigating him in 2018. when the judge sustained several of the prosecution's objections, the witness remarked, "geez", in exasperation. thejudge paused to remind him of proper court decorum. then things escalated further, after he accused mr costello of staring him down. the judge cleared out the court, in what was one of the most dramatic moments of this historic trial. the incident however will have little impact on the case itself, which is winding down. closing arguments will be next tuesday, may 28, after the long holiday weekend. the uk high court has ruled wikileaks founder julian assange can appeal his extradition order to stand trial in the us on espionage charges. assange is accused of releasing highly classified information about alleged us war crimes, and potentially faces life

in prison if convicted on all charges. the decision allows assange to challenge the us' promises about the prospective trial, including the guarantees that he would not face the death penalty, and that his freedom of speech would be protected. if extradited, assange faces up to 175 years in prison. the us argues the leaks, which disclosed secrets about the wars in afghanistan and iraq, endangered lives. assange's lawyers argue the case against him is politically motivated. the wikileaks founder has spent more than a decade resisting deportation and facing espionage charges. our legal correspondent, dominic casciani, has more from outside the high court. hundreds of people have turned up hundreds of people have turned up to supportjulian assange and show solidarity with him because they believed he has been boringly unjustly treated over the last four years, since 2019 when he fought this us

extradition. there has been a sense of legal inevitability about the direction was going in. by a succession of court ruling. this morning to make seniorjudges in the high court effectively put the blocks on the whole thing, for now, because they accepted a very narrow argumentjulian assange says he has. in effect, when part of the wikileaks organisation in 2010, leaked us military secrets he did so to expose war crimes and therefore had a right to free speech and doing that under the us constitution and therefore cannot be prosecuted for doing so. us says it has given assurances this is not the type of case where free speech comes into play but this is not satisfied the judges here into play but this is not satisfied thejudges here in london and they said we will have a full appeal at this point. as we try to unpack this. the other point of assurances from the us that julian assange will not face the death penalty, that has been accepted by his team. that is no longer an issue. it

fundamentally comes down to the question of whether or not if he went on trial in the united states can say i have a defence of freaking out freely in order to expose war crimes and that should be heard in my trial. —— speaking out freely a cross—party group of australian lawmakers travelled to washington dc in september to lobby the us to abandon its efforts to extradite assange. the parliamentary delegation met with republican and democratic congress members. they also met with representatives from the department ofjustice. however, there was little movement on the case until now. joining me now to discuss the development is barnaby joyce, former deputy prime minister of australia. barnabyjoyce, barnaby joyce, thank you barnabyjoyce, thank you for joining us on bbc news. that news coming _ joining us on bbc news. that news coming from _ joining us on bbc news. that news coming from the - joining us on bbc news. that news coming from the uk that julian assange is allowed to have a full appeal of the issues heard, what you expect to come from that?— to come from that? first of all, i welcome _ to come from that? first of all, i welcome that. - to come from that? first of all, i welcome that. the . all, i welcome that. the position i have is one of

extraterritorialjurisdiction, extraterritorial jurisdiction, extraterritorial jurisdiction, extra territoriality, let's take out the namejulian assange and colette your son or your daughter. they were not an american citizen, not a us citizen, they were not in the us when this issue that the us holds as a grievance was committed. so they were not in the us. and the issue was in australia it was not a crime. in fact it even got a walkley award. so we are now sending a person to a third country by reason of the intellectual view of that person of the government of that third country, in this case the us. now i am not here to make an assumption on the morality of what mr assange did or otherwise, but it seems perverse that if we allow this thenit perverse that if we allow this then it becomes a precedent to maybe someone from england being sent to saudi arabia because the saudis have found some offence and what a person in england said. people in england, and scotland and

ireland and wales would get incredibly upset. they would say, you cannot send people here there and everywhere around the world because i can't do, and other countries as they want them. with the issue with mr assange himself, he never stole information. that was bradley, now chelsea manning. he is walking the streets. in fact, manning. he is walking the streets. infact, i manning. he is walking the streets. in fact, i saw him in an interview with the road last night, for which he said he did not really have much to do with julian and did not like being tied up with him. bradley manning at the time was someone who stole information. julian assange was not even the first person to publish it. i think kleptomania published information, that was a citizen of the us. just that wider coverage in wikileaks. so a whole range of issues before we even get to the fact that what was published was truth is, it just does not stack up and i can't figure out why basically this individual...

can't figure out why basically this individual. . ._ this individual... sorry, the us government _ this individual... sorry, the us government does - this individual... sorry, the us government does say i this individual... sorry, the l us government does say that this individual... sorry, the - us government does say that in publishing this information julian assange endangered live. that is the point of their case and that they need to prosecute that as a result. you were in the us last year campaigning to have the charges dropped totally. you met a number of lawmakers in this country. did you get any indication from any of them that they would be minded to drop the charges at some point? yellow point inaudible absolutely. in fact, we met congressmen may see from the republican side and congressman mcgovern of macy and mcgovern from democratic and republican side. they both said this has gone on too long, it doesn't make sense. some literally said, this is still injail? and we had to inform them that he was. we had people such as from the far—right, from the far—left, on both sides of the aisle in the us signing a joint letter to the president of the united states saying this

should be dropped, people should be dropped, people should move on. now, maryjane tyler, i think is the name, i could get that wrong, from overcoming people from the far—right, far—right, far—left click moderate right, moderate left there have also it has gone on too long. but we haven't individual ian bell must present, the set high security prison in the uk, wendy three hours locked up, and our outside sl, for what? what is the crime? they commit a crime in the uk? did they commita a crime in the uk? did they commit a crime a crime in the uk? did they commita crime and a crime in the uk? did they commit a crime and australia? no. so why are we're doing this? speaking of matters in australia, the parliament there of which you were a member past, calling forjulian assange to be returned to australia, presidentjoe biden was asked about that measure. and he said, we are considering it. have you heard anything from the white house, from anyone in the biden administration about that matter since?

administration about that mattersince? i administration about that matter since?— administration about that matter since? i have been to washington _ matter since? i have been to washington and _ matter since? i have been to washington and have - matter since? i have been to | washington and have brought matter since? i have been to i washington and have brought it up washington and have brought it up with the ambassador also, ambassador kennedy in australia, caroline kennedy, and we just believe that this, in the very good relationship we have at the us and we also have with the uk, this is an unnecessarily born under the saddle blanket. why are we still dealing with this issue? we have biggerfish to still dealing with this issue? we have bigger fish to fry than this? much biggerfish. this issue should have been dealt with sometime ago, now it should be dealt with, we're going to the minutiae, an issue of the first amendment of the united states of america. the question that should be asked about, this individual is not a citizen of the united states of america, not with in the united states of america when the offence was created, which is only deemed to be an offence by the united states of america. the best way to think about it is put yourself in the same shoes and what would you expect your elected representatives to

do in that case? i am from the conservative— i am probably seen as on the right wing of politics in australia and it does not stack up for me and the same thing in australia. people from the right, left and everywhere in between... it does not stack up.— does not stack up. sorry to interrunt — does not stack up. sorry to interrupt you _ does not stack up. sorry to interrupt you there - does not stack up. sorry to interrupt you there two - does not stack up. sorry to - interrupt you there two barnaby joyce, we're out of time of the show. thank you so much for joining us on bbc news. barnaby joyce, former australian deputy prime minister there. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. we have had some late spring sunshine over recent days, also a few showers around — and we'll see a few more of them over the next few days. in fact, between tuesday and friday, the weather turns more unsettled. this is the rainfall we're expected to accumulate — and you can see, particularly across the northeast of scotland, some places will see close to 100 millimetres of rain by the end

of the week, so things certainly turning more unsettled gradually. as for tuesday, after a bit of a misty, murky start, some scattered showers building during the afternoon, but they will be fairly hit—and—miss. i think tuesday will dawn with some sea fog across the far northeast of scotland, aberdeenshire towards orkney, also some mist and fog around some other north sea coasts, northern ireland, too. some patchy rain i think almost anywhere by the afternoon, but the areas most likely to see it, perhaps some heavy showers for the southwest of england, 1 or 2 in the southeast, could be some thunderstorms around. showers fairly few and far between across parts of wales, northern england, but some heavy, potentially thundery ones likely tuesday afternoon across northern ireland, and a scattering of showers for central parts of scotland, as well. some areas staying a little bit murky close to the north sea coasts all day tuesday, and that sea fog will roll back in across parts of scotland as we head overnight into wednesday. we'll also start to see more persistent rain working in across this zone of eastern england and central scotland. and it'll be quite a mild night, with those temperatures staying well in double figures. now, into wednesday — and low pressure looks like it'll move in from the near continent, and just push its way gradually further north across parts of northern england and scotland, as well. so you can see

the blue and green colours indicating the more persistent spells of rain we're likely to see on wednesday around the east coast in particular. for northern ireland, wales, perhaps central and southern england, it'll be a day of sunny spells and some scattered showers, but temperatures down a notch compared to recent days — so highs between about 17—19 for most, but a little bit cooler close to some of those coasts. into thursday, we've still got low pressure — this time, it stalls across scotland in particular, so it's feeding in more moisture for parts of highland, aberdeenshire, for instance, as well. could be some localised flooding as those rainfall totals mount up. elsewhere, some sunshine, a few scattered showers, especially around some of those north sea coasts, and it is that bit cooler. so the middle of the week, fairly unsettled, some showers on the cards. it does look like the showers become fewer towards the weekend, and for some of us, those temperatures will be on the rise once again. bye— bye.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk.

i'm stephen sackur. to fully commit to a cause is to put the political above the personal. it has lifelong ramifications, not just for the activist, but for those closest to them. and no—one knows this better than my guest today, the writer gillian slovo, whose parents, joe slovo and ruth first, were hugely important figures in south africa's liberation struggle against apartheid. from teenage, gillian's home has been in the uk and her recent writing digs deep into british culture. but how much distance is there from her extraordinary south african backstory?